


The Years

by fortunata13



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-01
Updated: 2012-11-01
Packaged: 2017-11-17 12:19:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/551507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortunata13/pseuds/fortunata13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU of Reckoning. What if it isn’t Richard and Cara who travel to the future? What if it’s Kahlan and Cara? And what if the future isn’t horrible, what if it’s kind of perfect?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Years

“Cara!” Kahlan calls out the moment her eyes open. The Seeker turns his attention toward the Mord’Sith sprawled on the ground. In less than a breath he’s rushing at her, Sword of Truth in hand. “Richard, no! Don’t hurt her.” Kahlan quickly positions her body between Cara and the sword.

“She almost killed you!” Richard says, he and Zedd glance at each other trying to make sense of this unexpected turn of events.

“Put your weapon down, Richard. I will confess you, I will even kill you, before I let you hurt her.” He can see it in her eyes, Kahlan is on the verge of going into the Con Dar to protect a Mord’Sith. Something is wrong, very wrong, but he has the presence of mind to do as she orders. Zedd is resting a supportive hand on his shoulder.

Kahlan is on her knees cradling the Mord’Sith’s head on her lap when she notices the blood. Cara’s head must have made impact with a rock when they hit the ground. “Heal her wound,” she orders, looking over at the wizard. “Now!” she adds emphatically. The wizard shakes his head in disbelief but does as she says.

“This is insane,” the Seeker mumbles under his breath. Kahlan glares back at him but says nothing.

“Cara, wake up, please.” Her eyes are filled with tears as she gently strokes the Mord’Sith’s cheek with the back of her hand. “Why isn’t she waking up, Zedd? Do something, please.” She’s not giving orders anymore, she’s practically begging. Just then she feels Cara’s body shift. “Thank the Creator.” The wizard and the Seeker still can’t believe any of this is happening. “Open your eye’s for me, Cara. I need to see your beautiful eyes. Please.”

_The Mother Confessor, the Seeker and the wizard were bringing together the boxes of Orden, certain that this time the prophecy would be fulfilled, that they would finally defeat Darken Rahl. It was then that the Mord’Siths attacked. Cara pressing her agiel to Kahlan’s ribs made it happen. They both disappeared into thin air, leaving the wizard and the Seeker in a panic._

_The two of them found themselves standing on a sidewalk, outside a high rise building, the likes of which did not exist in the world from which they had been transported, and wearing clothing that certainly was not typical of the Midlands. And yet, it was all somehow familiar. Neither of them said it but they were both thinking it. “This can’t be happening,” Cara said. They knew this world, it should not have been so, but they both knew this world._

_“Good afternoon, ladies,” the young man who opened the door for them said, with a bright smile on his face._

_“Thank you, Darren,” Kahlan replied, as she and Cara walked toward the elevator._

_“You knew his name,” Cara said , in a way that lingered between a question and an accusation._

_“You didn’t?” Kahlan asked, curiously. Cara didn’t bother to deny it. Besides, she hated lying to Kahlan._

_“I hate lying to you.” She said it aloud, as if doing so would somehow explain why she felt that way._

_“So don’t.” Kahlan smiled brightly at her as she spoke._

_When the elevator doors opened into the foyer of their apartment, Cara instinctively reached into her pocket for her keys, and there they were. “I’ll get that for you,” she said, placing her hand on the small of Kahlan’s back and holding the door open for her. Mord’Sith not known for their chivalry, the gesture surprised Kahlan, but at the same time it didn’t, Cara always held doors for her. It was all very confusing and it only got more confusing when they were inside the apartment. There were dozens of photographs of the two of them adorning the walls. Most notably, wedding pictures –– their wedding pictures. Stranger still was that, in looking at them, they both remembered that day. They remembered all of it in great detail, even their wedding vows._

_“Do you have an explanation for any of this, Mother Confessor?” She intended it to sound menacing but it didn’t. Kahlan shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. It was almost as if this place, this life, was becoming as familiar to them as the one they had been living only minutes earlier._

_“But it feels–”_

_“Right,” Cara chimed in._

_“I love it when we do that,” Kahlan said, then leaned in kissing Cara lightly on the lips._

_“Do what?” Cara asked, one of her arms encircling Kahlan’s waist and pulling her closer._

_“Finish each others sentences.” This time she kissed Cara in earnest. So much so that by the time their lips parted, they were both breathless._

_“This…it isn’t supposed to be happening, but ––”_

_“It feels right,” Kahlan said. It was her turn to complete the sentence. “And I’m…” she paused for several seconds before finishing, “happy, I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life –– confused –– but happy.”_

_Cara’s entire face brightened. “To make you happy is all I’ve ever wanted. I love you so much, Kahlan.”_

_Kahlan’s eyes widened and Cara’s jaw dropped the minute the words left her lips. After the initial shock, Kahlan broke the silence.”Then maybe this is how it’s supposed to be. I love you too, and I can’t imagine my life without you.” Kahlan knew what she was saying was completely absurd since until less than an hour earlier, she’d never seen this woman before in her life. And truthfully, that by way of introduction Cara agieled her, didn’t exactly make for a good first impression. Still, it was the truth, she loved her more than she had ever thought it possible to love anyone._

_“Should we be trying to get back?” Cara asked, less than enthusiastically._

_“How? We don’t have a wizard, we don’t have the boxes and I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t feel any magic in me.” She walked around the apartment, taking in small details and fingering random objects. “Besides, we’re home.”_

_Throwing her arms up in defeat, Cara declared, “Exactly, we are home. Have we gone mad?” Kahlan had no reply. “Could it be a dream, or maybe a spell?”_

_“I suppose so, but it doesn’t feel like either.” She reached out her hand, and with the tips of her fingers, traced Cara’s features from her brow to her lips. “You certainly feel real...and warm and soft…” She trailed off, retracting the hand when she felt herself becoming aroused. It would have been positively scandalous, Kahlan Amnell, Mother Confessor of the Midlands aroused by a Mord’Sith, had this particular Mord’Sith not been her wife._

_Apparently the gesture affected Cara in the same way because she stepped toward her, capturing Kahlan’s earlobe between her lips and licking her way down to her pulse point. “How do you always manage to do that? To drive me mad with desire with a simple touch?”_

_Kahlan smiled at her seductively, and noticing that Cara’s nipples were hard, caressed one of them with her thumb. The Mord’Sith clenched her jaw in a failed attempt at suppressing a moan.“Sexual chemistry isn’t something we’ve ever lacked, my love,” Kahlan purred into her ear._

_“Love,” Cara echoed, raising a skeptical brow. “Mord’Sith do not love, Mother Confessor.” She crossed her arms defiantly –– if rather halfheartedly. Kahlan stared at her blankly but didn’t say a word, she just waited. It didn’t take long before Cara, feeling her heart sink at getting that look, took Kahlan in her arms. “Please don’t look at me that way. It kills me when you look at me like that,” Cara said, her words dripping with remorse. “I’m sorry, you know I love you more than life itself. This is all so…I don’t know…confusing.”_

_“Turning on each other won’t help matters, Cara. This is difficult for me too but you’re my wife, and I know that together we will get through this.” Cara could not help but curl up one of the corners of her mouth as she always did when Kahlan managed to be gentle and strong all at once. It was one of the things that made her fall in love with her._

_“I’m not going to try to understand this anymore. All I know is that, Mord’Sith or not, I’m madly in love with you, Kahlan.” She pulled her in for a deep languorous kiss. “Don’t ever leave me and everything will be fine.”_

_“Oh you’ll never get rid of me. I’ll follow you into every conceivable reality.”_

_They both remained keenly aware of the lives they left behind; those memories never left them. Yet the pull of this life, the one in which they where standing, the one that was solid and real, was much too strong. The next morning Kahlan woke up to the sensation of Cara’s fingers sliding into her panties; she mewled and parted her legs. Cara propped herself up on an elbow, rubbing lazy circles on Kahlan’s clit. It wasn’t long before Kahlan was tugging at her own nipples and demanding more. Cara deftly did away with Kahlan’s panties and slid two fingers inside her, then a third. Kahlan’s back arched off the bed at the feeling of having her wife inside her, but it was Cara’s tongue that brought her to climax, moaning and crying out her wife’s name. “Good morning, my love,” Kahlan purred into Cara’s ear as she came down from her orgasm. “You are the best alarm clock in the entire universe.” Cara laid next to her with a self-satisfied smirk on her face._

_This was their life now, and they never questioned it again. Kahlan worked for the City of Aydindril as an urban planner but she had every intention of running for mayor the following election year. Cara owned and operated her own architectural firm which had a reputation for the most innovative designs in all of the territories. They met when Cara placed a bid for a city project. Kahlan found Cara arrogant, self-absorbed, aloof, and positively irresistible. When Cara asked her out to dinner, Kahlan accepted._

_It was on their third date that Cara, having arranged for a candle lit dinner at a cozy restaurant overlooking the bay, realized she no longer needed her little black book: she was in love. Winning Kahlan’s heart became her number one priority. She sent flowers, wrote love letters, called just for the sake of hearing her voice, and indulged Kahlan’s every whim. She found herself doing things that had been unthinkable: handholding, opening doors, attending poetry readings, yoga classes, and all manner of activities that she would have previously balked at._

_“You can stop wooing me now, Cara, I’ve been yours since the day you walked into my office,” Kahlan admitted after they’d been dating for three months. That was the night they made love for the first time. Both of them responded with perfect candor to every touch. The way they moved together, so careful in each others arms, the feel of Kahlan’s nails digging into Cara’s back when she felt her inside her for the first time, it was all beautiful. While they encountered some bumps in the road, they both knew this was the real thing; they were married two years later. Cara never stopped wooing her, even after their nuptials. All of it, their first meeting, that first date, the wedding, had all taken place before they stepped into this life, but the memories were theirs and they were real, of that they were certain._

_Kahlan went on to win the mayoral race by a land slide. Cara still remembered feeling her heart swell with pride on the day her wife was sworn into office. She also enjoyed that one of the benefits of being the mayor’s wife was that not a single member of the Aydindril PD would even think of giving her a ticket. The city flourished with Kahlan at its helm, and there was no doubt that she’d be reelected. Cara decided that perhaps this was a good time for her to bridge a subject that they had only mentioned in passing._

_It was on the evening of their fifth anniversary, during a romantic dinner at Kahlan’s favorite restaurant, that Cara brought it up. It took gulping down two glasses of wine to summon up the courage to actually say the words but she took a deep breath and blurted it out, “Let’s make a baby.” Kahlan’s eyes instantly filled with tears of joy and right there in the restaurant, she sat on Cara’s lap kissing her deeper and more passionately than she had ever done before. The patrons and staff members all clapped enthusiastically when they realized that it was none other than their beloved mayor who was engaging in such behavior._

_“We’re having a baby!” Kahlan announced to everyone in the establishment with tears running down her cheeks. “We’re having a baby!” She repeated it even more loudly than the first time. That night when they got home, they made love until the sun rose over the horizon. As Kahlan laid in bed with one of Cara’s legs slung over her, and an arm draped over her waist, she thought of her old life and the magic of the Midlands. Even with wizards, sorcerers, night wisps and all other manner of magical beings, they could not have managed the miracle that, in this life, would result from a few visits to a doctor’s office._

_It was decided, Kahlan would carry the child and, after the birth, Cara would work from home and take care of the baby. Cara was terrified at first but it made sense, so she diligently went about purchasing every child rearing book available at the neighborhood bookstore. By the end of the first trimester, she could have easily qualified for a Phd in all things baby related. Kahlan found herself falling in love all over again every time her wife shared some newly acquired baby fact she deemed crucial. A healthy and beautiful baby girl with her mother’s eyes, was born just over a year later. The little girl, who after countless hours of heated negotiations, was named Daya, brought them so much joy that three years later, Cara gave birth to her little sister, Adia. Years later, an elderly neighbor who adored the girls, and happened to be very well versed on such matters, informed them that Daya meant compassion and Adia meant gift. Cara and Kahlan had chosen wisely for the little one was the soul of generosity and her older sister was as kind and compassionate a child as ever there was one._

_It was a good life. The years seemed to fly by in a whirlwind of happiness. Life had its ups and downs, as is to be expected, but Cara and Kahlan’s love for each other continued to deepen, as did their gratitude for this life that had been miraculously handed to them. Both the girls were in high school and doing well. Cara didn’t like that Daya wanted to start dating, but Kahlan reminded her that, as she had insisted on, the girls trained in martial arts since they were old enough to walk and were more than capable of taking care of themselves. Secretly, it was their hearts that Cara worried about, but in the end she relented._

_It was as Kahlan and Cara celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary that it happened, that they felt it, that same pull that years before had torn them out of one life and into another. Only this time it was much more violent, for they felt it and tried to fight it, to resist it with all their might. In the end their efforts were in vain. Whatever force was pulling them away from this life would not be denied._

“Kahlan?” Cara finally says weakly, trying to get her bearings.

“I’m right here, Cara.”

Her torso snaps up, grimacing at the violent movement. “The girls, Kahlan! Where are the girls?” She looks around for a moment and it hits her, they are back in the Midlands. The other Midlands, not the Midlands in which they’ve built a life, a family. “This can’t be happening,” Cara cries out.

Kahlan recalls those being the exact words Cara used when it happened the first time, when they suddenly found themselves in a different place, or rather, a different time.

“If you did this wizard, you’ll pay with your life, I swear it.” Cara can barely manage to stand without Kahlan’s support and her entire body trembles with rage.

“Leave us.” Kahlan orders, only looking up at the men for a fraction of a second. The Seeker starts to protest but, seeing the look on her face, thinks better of it. The moment they were gone, Kahlan lowers them both on to a log and begins to weep. “Why is this happening?”

“I’ll make him fix it, Kahlan. We’ll get our girls back, I promise you.” She pulls Kahlan into an embrace and holds her until the tears subside.

“Richard, Zedd,” Kahlan calls out in the direction in which they’d disappeared. “Richard!” she bellows again impatiently. Once they are standing before her, she helps Cara to her feet and demands answers. “What did you do?” she asks the wizard, her hands balled into fists at her sides and her jaw clenched to the point of causing her pain. The men stood speechless. “I suggest you find your voices now or I will confess you both to get my answers.” Before she finishes saying it, she has a hand wrapped around each of their throats.

“Fine,” the Seeker finally says. “Kahlan, you were just gone. When she agieled you,” he says, glaring over at the Mord’Sith for a moment before turning his attention back to Kahlan, “the both of you vanished. I thought I would never see you again.” He reaches out with the intention of touching Kahlan’s cheek, but Cara has her agiel hovering over his heart before he can manage it.

“If you lay as much as a finger on my wife, I will kill you,” she informs him in a low and even tone that is more terrifying than the sight of her agiel. “Did you do this? Did you tear us away from our children?”

“Children?” Richard asks, turning toward Kahlan. “You were only gone for three candle marks. What is she talking about?” He and the wizard are unable to grasp what is going on. “And, yes, of course, we brought you back. Did you think we would just abandon you?”

Kahlan turns toward her wife. “Cara, three candle marks, he said we were only gone for three candle marks. How is that possible?” It was then that they both realized they were standing before younger versions of each other. The laugh lines they’d proudly earned over the years where gone, as were the few gray hairs that peppered Kahlan’s head.

“Send us back!” Cara demands.

“Zedd, for us it’s been over twenty-five years. We have a good life, we have two beautiful daughters. Help us go home, please.” Kahlan has no anger left in her, only fear and despair.

The wizard doesn’t understand any of this, but it breaks his heart to see her like this, to see them both like this, for even the Mord’Sith is on the verge of tears. “Kahlan, child, I would never deny you anything, but the boxes of Orden were destroyed when we brought you back. We intended you no harm. We thought we were rescuing you.”

“You married a Mord’Sith?” Richard asks, with a scowl on his face. Zedd presses a hand to his shoulder and shakes his head, indicating that this isn’t the time for such a discussion.

“The witch woman,” Cara suddenly says. “Maybe she can help us.”

In a puff of smoke, Shota stands before them, and by the look in her eyes, Kahlan and Cara realize that there is no need to explain what is happening.

“Shota, we have had our differences, but I beg of you, please help us get back to our life.” With every passing moment Kahlan feels that the world she knew and loved is slipping away. It is only Cara’s arm wrapped around her that keeps her grounded.

“Come with me.” With a single gesture of the witch’s hand they are in Agaden Reach.

“Can you help us?” Cara asks, positioning herself between Kahlan and the witch. She doesn’t trust Shota enough to leave Kahlan exposed to her magic.

“Requesting help implies that there is a lack, a need of some sort. That all is perfect and complete as it is, I am certain.” Knowing that Kahlan can assess her sincerity, she makes a point of looking the Mother confessor in the eyes.

“On this day riddles will cost you your life, witch.” Cara steps forward so that they are standing nose to nose. Much like Kahlan, she too can feel this world solidify while the one they both long for fades into a memory.

“Sit, please,” she says, pointing toward a log by the pond. “I sat where you sit now and witnessed the life you shared. I watched you,” she says, directing her attention toward Cara, “a Mord’Sith, love a Confessor above all else, I looked on as you held your children in your arms, comforted them when they were sick, taught them to be strong and kind and honest. And you, Kahlan, even without your magic, the serenity and quiet strength with which you led your people and cared for your family…” she trails off for a moment, her emotions betraying her. “I am not without compassion. If what you ask of me were possible, you would have it.”

Cara turns to her wife, a slight nod from Kahlan confirms that Shota is telling the truth. “So you are saying that our life, our children, it’s all gone?” Kahlan asks, her voice filled with despair as she reaches for Cara’s hand. “There must be a way to send us back. Our girls, they are so young, they need their mothers.” Tears roll down her cheeks as she pleads with the witch. “We are good people, Shota, we are good, loving people.” Cara wraps her arms around her in an attempt to comfort her but she knows it isn’t enough.

“There is no where to which I can send you, Mother Confessor. What I said before wasn’t a riddle, it was a fact. For as much as we experience life as a straight line, it is but only a single point containing all of time and space. There is no future, only an eternal now in which we live countless lives at once.” She searches their faces for traces of understanding, when in reality she doesn’t fully understand it either. “What happened with the boxes somehow allowed you two to become conscious of two lives at once. I don’t know that such a thing has ever occurred before but both this life and the other are as they should be.” Knowing that her words are of no comfort to either of the women, she decides to do something that she very well knows violates all principles that ensure the continuity of reality. Although she would never admit it, what she saw managed to pierce through her self-serving nature just enough to want to ease their pain. “That I may have to endure the wrath of both the Creator and the Keeper for what I am about to do is almost certain.”

With the wave of her hand, on the surface of the pond in front of which they sit, appears a clear image of the life Cara and Kahlan recognize as their own. “Your children have not lost their mothers, nor have you lost them.”

Shota watches, as the two of them sit witnessing their own lives. In the span of a few candle marks they saw themselves rejoicing at every milestone in their daughters’ lives. It was all there, birthdays, graduations, first dates. They looked on as Adia, the little one, who shared Kahlan’s passion for public service and social justice, dedicated her life to making the world a better place. She and her mate adopted a brood children, always going where they were needed most. Daya, having spent her early years on Cara’s hip, watching her work on intricate building designs, developed a discerning artist’s eye. She became an accomplished painter and photographer. But, above all else, she sought out adventure at every turn, so much so, that her mothers were certain she’d never settle down. Much to their surprise, just shy of her thirtieth birthday she met a beautiful girl who grounded her and inspired her in ways she’d never imagined. Kahlan and Cara knew it was love the moment they saw them together. Years later, they were both in the delivery room when Daya gave birth to a baby girl with a shock of black hair and bright blue eyes. They both wept as they sat there, watching themselves hold their newborn granddaughter for the first time. Yet, their arms remained empty.

It was a life well lived. They grew old together, taking pleasure in the simple things in life –– most of all, waking up in each others arms every morning. In all their years of marriage they never spent a single night apart. It wasn’t something they discussed or agreed upon, it simply never occurred to them to do otherwise. Cara was, after all, Kahlan’s alarm clock and, without her wife, Cara could not even begin to find matching socks. They were still madly in love; that never changed. It truly was a life well lived.

“I know it doesn’t change things but I hope it brings you both some measure of peace.” Shota studies their faces carefully before adding, “But what you saw will not come to pass if you do not do your part in saving this world, which is on the verge of destruction.”

The moment she’s done speaking, they find themselves back at the spot where this all started. Kahlan promptly pulls Cara into an embrace, only to be overcome with despair when, for the first time in all their years together, she feels her wife’s body tense in her arms.

“Cara, my love, what is it?” Her brow furrows as a response doesn’t come. “Talk to me, please. You’re scaring me.” Kahlan’s heart races as she speaks.

“I feel it, Kahlan, I feel the bond to the Lord Rahl. It’s different somehow, but I feel it. I am Mord’Sith again.” She pauses looking to the ground, already feeling the sting of tears. “How can I trust myself to keep you well if my will isn’t my own? What if I hurt you? What if I’m too weak to fight it?”

Kahlan grips both of her shoulders tightly, and says, “I want you to listen to me very carefully because I’m only going to say this once. You are Cara Mason-Amnell, my wife and the mother of my children. You are the one in whose arms our girls sought comfort when they skinned their knees, you are the one they called for when they were sick, you are also the one who kept me together on the many occasions I was on the verge of strangling a city commissioner. And lets face it, it wasn’t my measly salary as mayor that afforded us that beautiful apartment, countless vacations, privates schools, and ballet classes. Cara, I prepared meals and read bedtime stories but you were the best wife and mother in the world. You supported and protected us, you cared for us, you provided for us, you loved us more than I thought possible. No bond is stronger than the one between us.” She leans in and kisses her until the need to breathe is too much. “There is no one in all of creation whom I believe in more than you. Even if you woke up a gar tomorrow, I would feel safe and loved in your gar arms.”

“I’ve lived it Kahlan, the experience of Darken Rahl using the bond to bend me to his will. Not once was I strong enough to fight it.” It terrifies her to think that she could be coerced into harming her wife.

“It isn’t Darken Rahl who holds the bond.” Not having noticed that Richard and Zedd were standing just a few paces away, the sound of Richard’s voice startles them both. “Darken Rahl is dead, I killed him when we brought you back.”

Cara’s hand quickly moves to her weapon. “My agiel is still working so someone holds it.”

“Richard does,” Kahlan says, under her breath, staring at the ground. She is well aware of his parentage and makes the connection immediately.

“I don’t understand any of this, but you know I would never hurt you.” Kahlan doesn’t need magic to know he’s telling the truth.

“Shota informed us that this world in peril, Richard. Cara and I will fight by your side to save it, but you must understand that she’s my wife. If either of you try to harm her,” she says, looking between them, “I will stop you by any means necessary. Without Cara in it, this world means nothing to me.” The Seeker and the wizard nod in acknowledgment.

The four of them walk over to where the men have already made camp and started a fire. Kahlan is surprised to find that her pack and bedroll are exactly where she left them, in what still feels like over twenty years ago to her. She gathers them and places them as far away from the others as she can.

Once they are tucked in, Kahlan turns so that they are facing each other. “Cara, I want you to know that I still need you to be my alarm clock. We are just going to have to be a little quieter than usual.” She’s doing her best to smile. Cara needs her to be the strong one this time. Kahlan is all too aware that her wife has a tendency to blame herself for everything.

“Just don’t leave my side, Kahlan. You’re the one who keeps me strong.” She picks up Kahlan’s hand, bringing it to rest over her own heart.

“I miss the girls too, but we saw them, and we saw the women they grew into. It won’t be easy, but we will do it again in this world. We’ll build a family and we’ll grow old together.” She thinks for a long moment, then adds, “We get to do it all again. We get to love each other, raise our children, and watch them raise theirs. I get a second lifetime with you as my wife, you making love to me every morning, and me falling in love with you all over again as I watch you care for our family. How can I possibly be sad about that?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be the first Mord’Sith in history to raise little Confessors,” Cara says with a hint of a smile on her face. The sight of it warms Kahlan’s heart. She hasn’t seen that smile since this ordeal began.

After holding each other in silence for almost a full candle mark, Kahlan giggles a bit. “It’s nice to know that even when we’re little old ladies your gaze still wanders down to my neckline.”

Cara chuckles and it’s music to Kahlan’s ears. “You were still the most beautiful woman in the world and I was still the luckiest.”

“We have each other, Cara. That will never change.”


End file.
